Looked at objectively, Van She are vell and truly flogging their dead horse. Since 2005 they have released an EP and an album, V, and then another album of remixes of their album (aptly titled Ze Vemixes). Punters would be entitled to think that they would rather repackage and squeeze a few more album sales than do the hard yards and produce some new material. But forget about all zat. Not only are they the coolest mofos to come from Sydney since Paul Keating (Matt Van Schie’s track pants that he wore on stage at the Melbourne Nevereverland still rank as mein sartorial coup de gras of ‘08) but zey also put on a great show no matter how tired their oeuvre may seem.

This most recent tour is in aid of the album of remixes of the tracks from V, Ze Vemixes. Given the popularity of all things Teutonic thanks to Bruno, it was perhaps a good choice of accents to parody and concoct a play on words.

There was a decent turnout last Friday at the Prince Bandroom. Though being of my mid-twenties I did briefly upon arrival feel as though ich had walked into kinderschule. A kinderschule of kugelsachs I might add with the amount of women present able to be counted on one hand.

The lads opened up with Techno Music, a track not on V . Despite the name, zere was nicht Melbourne shuffle to be seen. The skinny jean das not allow such movement. And it’s hardly a techno track, more of the ilk of Justice.

The grottily reworked Sexual City was next up. A patina of filth has been smeared over the original with a grimy and provocative bass that screams sex or dry humping at least on the d-floor. It was the first of a few tracks where Herr Di Francesco, sporting a killer arschvitz tickler, took to the talk tube.

After leaving the gutter, VS decided to get us Talkin’. The track has been lightened a lot with a cheeky doo-wop opening that gets the hands above the waist and into the air. Di Francesco again sings through the talk tube, and the timbre of his voice as he sings through the tube reminded me of the Mongolian throat singers you occasionally hear during an SBS doco. It all works very well.

Changes and Strangers followed and were a whole lot more recognisable. Changes remixed swaps guitar for synth and Strangers strays dangerously into house music circa ‘02/’03, but neither strays too far away from the originals. The familiarity works well with the crowd after the radically different earlier tracks.

The last track of the main set was Cat and the Eye and was announced as a hip hop version yet it was more a soundtrack to intergalactic battle. The Vemixed version keeps its lazy tempo but has a busier beat, is delivered more urgently and has a more synthetic (if that’s possible) sound.

The boys came out for an encore and performed So High – the original and not remixed. It was a track, after seeing them a number of times, I have never heard played live. It was a curious closing that seemed like a lullaby to get everyone to chill out after a pretty intense few hours. Indeed, most people were rather high (on life, that is) after a fun gig with songs that traversed the innocent to the debauched.